It Won't Work

Why shouldn’t we have to rethink, challenge everything we thought was the “truth” in light of Him making Himself real to us apart from any religious matrix?

This unfolding revelation, awareness of Whose we are will NOT fit into the old religious wine skin matrix of what is so prevalent all around us, much like a religious Baskin Robbins store that will give you a flavor that is just to your liking!

What is happening within this awakening, the revelation of Whose we are, is a mixed, commingled merger with other things, in fact it’s much like what the early church faced with the Judaizers. Trying to blend together Law and Grace, much like trying to say that you can blend oil and water together.

What so many are referring to the “church” is nothing more than an outer expression of the spirit of this age, or as the Father said through our brother Paul, “Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
Everything outside of Christ is a collage of religion in its manifold expressions, and yet within the worldly, earthly systems, and institution of this world the true Church does operate.

It is this unfolding revelation of being His, that will utterly transform us from the inside out, it is inevitable that there will always be a chafing with anyone that tries to blend this reality of Whose we are with the old wine skin, old cloth of any expression of any religion!

Rich

Sons Not Sects

Is it any wonder the lines of definition have become so blurred and the best that most ever see, is this thing called “Christianity?”
I was thinking this morning how I am living in a nameless, faceless time, and it transcends my particular generation, it is one of the most ambiguous and assimilating life sucking entities operating, masquerading as that which tries to define who and what we are, aka, religion!

I love this quote from Rob Rufus, “Jesus needed to know that the Father loved Him! He didn't just assume that - He got revelation that the Father loved Him before the creation of the world. In heaven He knew it already. He was fully God - but when He came to the earth, His divinity was restrained and He had to walk in humanity depending on the Holy Spirit.”

Two specific times the man Christ Jesus heard these words, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased!” The first time this exploded within the life of the ‘man Christ Jesus’ was after thirty years of obscurity, following John the Baptist into the Jordan River to be baptized, the windows of heaven were opened up, a dove came and rested upon Jesus, a loud voice affirmed and defined Who’s this son of man was and who he, Jesus was.
On the heels of this event, Scripture says that Jesus was driven out into the wilderness where he was going to be subjected to the onslaught, barrage of attack aimed and targeted at the heart of this son of man.

The first salvo was designed to cripple this man, the man Christ Jesus, “If you are the “Son of God” use your power to alleviate the duress of this painful moment in your life.
The true sustenance needed in this situation was not a warm and fuzzy “conceptual” buzz, but out of knowing Who’s he was, the ability to respond, “It is written.”
For those following some of my thoughts that are very much in flux, motion, this illustrates well how many know the scriptures so well and yet are totally bankrupt with regard to knowing the WORD!

Another quote from Rob Rufus, “Thank God for Christianity but being a son is far better. The word "Christian" does not appear once in the Old Testament and under the New Testament it only appears once in Acts 11:26. Yet all over the world you hear talk about "Christianity", "Church-ianity" but the New Testament only mentions the word "Christian" once - but dozens and dozens of times it talks about being "sons".
Please hear my here, I am not endorsing this brother other than the fact he is my/our brother, but how he is using what he is seeing and it fitting into his idea of son-ship is not mine!

Only out of this life quickening unfolding revelation of Who’s we are will the blurred lines ever be removed from our lives.
This makes me laugh in light of the plethora of names available and being used to define sects, such as Christianity, heck even some cool new ones like, “Missional and Organic” to name a few, but this does/will not define who we are, because that is but the fruit born from Who’s we are!

Rich

A Clouded Mind

When the religious views of others interpose between us and the primary experience of Jesus as the Christ, we become unconvinced and unpersuasive travel agents handing out brochures to places we have never visited.

(From the Ragamuffin Gospel)

Rich

No Need for Balance

There has never been a need for balance within the believer’s life, I realize this will be met with great chagrin, none the less, it’s true.
All of us who have been received by God the Father have a perfectly established unshakable divine order within the essence of our being, it goes like this, “Who’s we are and who we are!”

The trouble is, that we all have and will continue apart from His tutelage try and naturalize the spiritual, by using natural methods of reasoning, such as trying to ‘establish balance.’
There has never been a divorce or disconnectedness between the spirit and the Scriptures, ever. What God has joined together let no man separate! The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the Law of sin and death. This reality is waiting to explode in the hearts of those he has called to BE His!

In being led as soulish or fleshly minded people, yes especially us Christians, we are trying to add to something that has been perfectly finished.
In our blinded un-renewed soul (mind, will and emotions) we are unable to embrace the reality of this Holy Ghost (Spirit of Christ) invasion that has laid a most sure and unshakable foundation within us.
Because of knowing and experiencing so little of this established divine order of His life in us as us and because there are NO vacuums, seemingly by default we resort back to what we have always operated out of, the flesh!

Because of so many excesses from the sublime to the ridiculous within the body of Christ, more often than not unfortunately the “baby has been thrown out with the bath water.”
Have you ever seen someone trying to move forward in a boat using only one oar, it ain’t going to happen, they simply keep going around and around in circles. Doesn’t that sound like much of what churchianity has been and is doing today?

Unfortunately so much of our “Christian” walk, journey is but a caricature of what it means, “In Him we live, move and have our being.”

I read something today that imparted a further knowing of “who’s I am and who I am, as I said it’s the spirit that makes alive what we only see as printed words in a book.
It is from “Unto Full Stature.” “It has been God’s intention that by inward graces we shall exhibit life, but by gifts (in and through the gifted One) we impart life.”

Rich

This Can’t Be Good

I’d like to think on these thoughts for a while here.

Why is it when we are set upon by various hellish and painful situations do we seemingly gravitate toward looking for an easier way??


“If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. As it is, there's not much chance of that. You know for yourselves that we're not much to look at. We've been surrounded and battered by troubles, but we're not demoralized; we're not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do; we've been spiritually terrorized, but God hasn't left our side; we've been thrown down, but we haven't broken. What they did to Jesus, they do to us—trial and torture, mockery and murder; what Jesus did among them, he does in us—he lives! Our lives are at constant risk for Jesus' sake, which makes Jesus' life all the more evident in us. While we're going through the worst, you're getting in on the best!”

“Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death works in us, but life in you.”

I thought we wanted to KNOW Him, then why are we trying to avoid the Way He has opened up for this miracle to unfold in us?

I am seeing that it is only through experientially becoming identified with Christ in the circumstances and situations we each face that we are being delivered over to death, that Life might be more than just a groovy concept!

Why is it that we all seem to know so much about suffering, and yet when we are lovingly subjected to it, we begin to move totally away from what he has made clear to us.
“Trust in Me with ALL of your heart, lean NOT unto your understanding, acknowledge Me in ALL of your ways, and I WILL direct your path-goings!”

True, living, meaningful relationship will only come about through dying. “If a seed falls into the ground and it doesn’t die, it abides alone, but if it dies, it brings forth much fruit.”

I am discovering that the stuff I am being exposed to on a daily basis is more than sufficient to bring to the surface in my life the head trip I’m on, knowing a lot of stuff, or "knowing/experiencing" the reality of His life in me as me that is more than adequate to address anything that comes my way.
How about you?

Rich

Fairy Tales

Often new understandings are not entirely new facts but are rather, corrections of previously held errors. This is why going outside the body of traditional, accepted understanding is dangerous and not particularly popular. This brings us face to face with two uncomfortable issues. The first is that there is always a group of people who have built a reputation or livelihood on the existing understandings. These people are not particularly pleased with the prospect of these understandings being shown to be in error or even held up as being incomplete.

The other issue is one of stability and comfort. Inside the established understanding box we know how things are. Inside the box we have the comfort (although it may be a false comfort) of stability and predictability. It may be a limited system but it is our system. This is often one of the founding principles of denominational religion.

Sadly, if we have a true desire to grow we must be willing to receive correction.
This is not nearly so painful if we stop and consider the alternatives to growth. As I am fond of thinking of it, people are like trees in this regard. A tree exists in only one of two states--it is either growing or dying. We too, are either growing or dying. I would rather be corrected and be alive and growing spiritually than to live in a false stability of spiritual death (stagnation).

It is not a mark of shame that we have a set of misconceptions incorporated in our basic understanding. This is not evidence that we are stupid, immoral or slow-witted. Think of where we came from. We all have come out of the world.
This is a world that is awash in misconceptions, ignorance and outright dishonesty. You must always keep in mind that the world is under control of the evil one: “We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (1John 5:19) So we all come into the life of Christ with an impressive set of fairy tales about the way things are. This reality is difficult to accept, especially for us who are convinced that we are pretty savvy about how things are. It is, nonetheless, true.

We need to consider some things. What is more important—coming to a deeper understanding of the Father, His world and ourselves or preserving our own foolish pride? To me, there is nothing sweeter than coming to know the truths of God. I am practical enough to realize that this sweetness may be too esoteric for many people. Then consider the pragmatic advantages of growing in the understanding of the truth.

Rich

This Present Christ

If there is no ability to choose, then what good is free will?

It is my contention that being a human being and also a Christian is much like oil and water - they just don’t mix (or do they?), and it is within this dissonance our loving Father constantly presents us with such choices.

On a daily basis, to one degree or another, we are faced with the choice of being drawn, dragged back into our past or stymied with fear at the uncertainty of what the future holds. So many things compete to cloud our minds, and a clouded mind sees nothing!

The canvas of our mind is being painted with vivid and powerful strokes. The paint is especially formulated by the enemy to keep us living in an illusory world of fear lies and shadows, but the God of love stepped into this surreal world, clothing himself with our humanity, and in so doing embraced every fear we would ever experience. He lived as a man - and as a man overcame, defeated the father of lies and made a way of escape for us, right now, this very moment.

It is simply but powerfully summed up as, ‘I AM’!

Rich

Who Has Bewitched You

What unmitigated gall, this conceited but unabashed ex Pharisee daring to say this.

It blows my mind as I soak in the majesty and wonder of the God imprinting that took place in our being conceived by the sperm-Word-re-birthing of God, and in a heart beat for most folks as soon as a pretty face comes along in the form of any style/flavor of religion we are seduced away from our true Father, or as Paul puts it, ‘bewitched’.
Kind of reminds me of the scene in the movie (here he goes again, talking about that stupid movie The Matrix one more time) where Morpheus is training Neo.

Neo in this setting discovers what is happening to him is but a further training situation, all intricately being used in Neo discovering his TRUE identity.

What seemingly unreal settings, circumstances and situations is the Father using in your life/training, to free you from the surrogate ones that have usurped the rightful place of God the Father and him alone being your direct access to Life and freedom.